On Monday, Obama sauntered up to the microphone and spoke sweetly to the American people. He blithely suggested that the Social Security checks for August may not be going out. OK, he said other things, too. I really didn’t listen. I find it hard to listen to this person. He usually says very little anyway. He has NO moral compass. He is a NeoLiberal. And I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but he is boring to boot. The phrase “banality of evil” comes to mind.

I will stop right here. I haven’t written a diary in a while. I used to spend a lot of time researching, thinking, and trying to put my best and most logical foot forward. Ain’t happening anymore. I am tired and can no longer make myself write either brilliant diaries or highly cogent comments. Please, forgive me.

One thing I know about Obama is that if he has mentioned something in passing he is making sure it will happen. He has set up the framework. If those social security checks don’t go out, how many won’t eat. How many businesses will go under? How many will die from lack of medication? How many more homes will be caused to go into default? And Obama will use this situation to cast himself in the roll of victim.

Obama is not just a disappointment, he is a danger. He is the most blatantly dishonest person I have ever witnessed in public life. We are in more trouble than we were in the Bush years because we are dealing with a heartless shape shifter who has taken us and the world economy to the very brink of disaster.

I was at the Pro Wisconsin Union rally in Sacramento on Saturday. I couldn’t believe the story in the Sacramento Bee this morning. The Bee emphasized the five minutes of contention between the Anti-union people and the Pro-union people. There was no reporting of the call from the podium for calm and restraint and the fact that the Pro-union people listened. It was the Anti-union (Tea Party) that instigated the problems during the day. The capital police had to constantly maintain order in the Tea Party ranks.

The crowd count was way off, too. I did not see 150 Tea Partiers. I saw about forty or fifty.

I took photos but didn’t get any panoramic views of the two crowds. Here is a map I created showing the Tea Party group in red and the pro-union people in blue. Since I was in the crowd of union supporters (Go Wisconsin!) my shots of the Tea Party are not as robust.

Below you will find the photographs I took of the two groups. The ones outlined in red are the Tea Party. The ones outlined in blue are the union supporters. The images give an idea of the density of the two crowds. (after the jump) Read the rest of this entry →

Saturday I went to a demonstration at the capital in Sacramento in support of the Wisconsin Protestors. There were probably a couple of thousand people. Rather than tell you about it I have chosen to post photos.

(more after jump) . . . Read the rest of this entry →

We live in a culture that does not acknowledge death. We don’t even say someone has died. We say they have passed. Americans aren’t well versed in manners concerning mortality. We live in a fluid society with little history. Why would we expect a memorial service not to become a pep rally? And who is to say that clapping and feeling a sense of community is inappropriate. Look at the day of the dead in Mexico. It uses humor, art and reverence to celebrate the dead. Look at the wake tradition in Irish culture. I have even heard of the dead person being brought to a pub to enjoy his own send off. In New Orleans after a funeral the mourners participate in a second line. This is a jubilant parade back to the relatives’ home where a party ensues. Death is odd, horrible, funny, and inevitable. Value judgements about how people deal with it are counterproductive. When I die I hope my family and friends celebrate my life and have fun because, God knows, I have had an odd, horrible, wonderful and funny life.

Second Line Umbrellas
Day of the Day Imagery
Irish Wakes

Smoke

The phone rang.
It was the vet’s office.
We still have your kitty in the freezer.
I had been out of town and
a friend took the animal in
to be
done
in.
The cat had purred all the way to death.
Sick as she was
she was still purring.
Always had been an oblivious feline.
I pictured her curled up
in her deep freeze sleep.
A mere sting.
A small irritation.
Slipped through her soul
the needle had stopped her cold.
Inoculated against life she moved into the next story,
the next poem.

The next day
the phone rang,
We still have your husband’s ashes here.
I had body parts all over town.
I couldn’t picture ashes.
I couldn’t picture my husband.
But I could smell the smoke.

Pets are better remembered than mates.
I know this cause my lover talks often
of his dead dog but not of his exwife.

What we leave. . . . . .
What we leave trails thinly . . . . . . .
What we leave trails thinly after us . . . . . . .like smoke.

The day the largest environmental catastrophe in American history began. (photo: SkyTruth via Flickr)

… people were so ridiculous with their illusions, carrying their fools’ caps unawares, thinking their own lies opaque while everybody else’s were transparent, making themselves exceptions to everything, as if when all the world looked yellow under a lamp they alone were rosy. -George Eliot

Obfuscation, Opacity and the B.P. Oil Tragedy

We live in dark times. The average citizen is considered expendable to our own government as is the natural world that sustains us. If we complain or kick up a little dust we are considered misfits. Look at what happened during the Army Corp of Engineers/Katrina flooding of New Orleans. When some were trying to find food they were labeled looters and skallywags. And if you get testy running the TSA gauntlet forget about making your flight. You might even get thrown out of the airport or fined.

We have been distracted by the continued lack of a concrete, functional response to the jobless situation, the massively horrid wars, and any number of outrages one could bullet point. The British Petroleum/Obama Administration oil tragedy has faded from the MSM, blogs and our own consciousness. But the effects of the tragedy still impact the environment and the health of the people living along the gulf. The poisoning will continue to kill and sicken but we will not hear about it. The wetlands will erode. Migratory birds will be poisoned. New Orleans is at a great and continued risk from hurricanes due to the erosion of the wetland barrier between it and the gulf.

Some may contend that the stance I have taken is hyperbolic. But remember what happened to the 9-11 responders. They were told the environment around the World Trade Center was safe. No respirators needed. Almost 1000 responders have died. What will happen to the TSA workers who are not allowed to wear badges that lert  them to hazardous levels of radiation? What will happen to the oil spill workers who were not allowed to wear respirators or were not told of the dangers VOC’s?

Gulf Fisherman: Young boy Poisoned by Corexit

Where there’s smoke…there’ Feinberg

America’s Gulf: New Report Says It’s Dying

Oil from Gulf spill still fouling Louisiana marshes

Gulf Oil Spill continues to foul 168 miles of Louisiana coastline

Shocking human poison levels in latest Gulf tests

It is hard to stay informed.  It overwhelms and depresses. It is hard to know if the information you are getting is credible. It is impossible to trust the official response. As we wait for a leader, a savior we fritter away the valuable time we have left. There is so much to be done. It has all been said before.

Many of us need to fly. If we fly today and don’t want to be exposed to radiation then we must endure molestation.

If we want to take the train it costs more in time and money then the plane. 49 hours and 41 minutes to get from Sacramento to New Orleans via Chicago. And it costs over $500 one way. The bus is about the same price but only takes 30 hours. Flying costs around $400 round trip.

The banksters are refusing to cram down the mortgages that are underwater. More people are walking away from their homes making the housing crisis worse. The government is aiding and abetting the banksters. The no cram down rule is pretzel logic. The value of homes continues to go down.

Fifty nine million Americans don’t have health insurance. Our economy cannot compete with other economies due to the always escalating cost of health care and health insurance. If we fixed this we could compete. Never mind that it would be the kind and moral thing to do and save lives.

We elect politicians to fix our problems. They don’t listen. The Citizens United SCOTUS decision handed our democracy over to the corporations. To vote or not to vote, that is the question. The answer is that our votes have been neutered by the most radical supreme court in one hundred and fifty years.

Too big to fail banks have been bailed out. The crooks who run the banking system should be in jail. Since they are not then we will have to bail out the too big to fail banks again.

As a country we invade other countries in the guise of self protection; killing thousands of innocent people for our own profit and greed……..

Unfortunately, I could go on and on with this diary. Everyone reading this knows every bit of it. But I just cannot get the image out of my head of a hysterical three year old little girl climbing up her mother while a TSA agent terrorizes her body and soul.  Is the TSA’s need to touch the most vulnerable among us on their genitals the tipping point? If not, my God, what is?

Ami Bera is the real deal. He is a fighter with a strong sense of right and wrong. If you know someone in Congressional District Three in California tell them about Ami Bera. Here is the latest ad the campaign has released.

Ami Bera connects with people. He is smart, personable, has local support and recognition in Congressional District Three of California. He has made Dan Lungren’s ethical lapses and lack of response to the needs of his constituents the center piece of his campaign. It is not hard to tar Lungren with the brush of incompetence and dishonesty. All one has to do is state the facts.

Bera hits Lungren for "double dipping" in taxpayer money by accepting both a Congressional salary and a pension from the state. He also knocks Lungren for accepting a 25 percent pay raise just before leaving the attorney general’s office, which increased his annual pension.

Bera also frequently points out how Lungren has ignored the needs constituents of the 3rd Congressional District. Even though California has the third highest unemployment rating in the country, and the Sacramento area was one of the hardest hit regions during the housing crash and jobless recovery, Lungren voted against extending unemployment insurance, against raising the minimum wage, and against measures to increase hiring of teachers, firefighters and policemen.  . . . Read the rest of this entry →

My husband and I moved to Rancho Cordova, CA after living the previous 13 years in either Sonoma or Marin Counties. It was like converting from Buddhism to Born Again Christianity. It was unsettling, interesting and I had a lot to learn. Also, it was not long after 9-11 and this made the contrast even more stark. A year or so after the move Dan Lungren became my representative in the House. Scary. The saving grace was the fact that our house is on the American River.

As the years ticked on the neighborhood became more and more gentrified. The strip malls were cleaned up and the funky bars disappeared.

The last of the older residents who had purchased houses when the neighborhood was first built in 1964 began to pass away. Younger more affluent people moved in. The houses where painted Pottery Barn colors and the front doors were modernized. The value of the neighborhood arched up. People had listened well to their faux leader, George II and had roped in their semi-dream homes and had gone shopping.

Now, in a two block radius, I know of five houses in foreclosure. There may be more. The grammar school down the street is closed and all of the teachers have been fired. The green belt behind my house that runs along the American River has no park rangers to protect it. Several nights ago I heard guns shots in the back.

When Obama gave out stimulus money at the beginning of his administration Rancho Cordova fixed the main corridors within the little city’s borders. Now school buses can easily get to schools that no longer exist.

Another recent change is the number of young dads pushing strollers. I suspect they are out of work but their wives are not.

We are moving. Our first choice is Portland. I will miss my neighbors. I will miss the river. I will not miss Dan Lungren.

Below are images I took when we moved to R.C. in March of 2002. None of the houses have flags on them any longer.